


redemption lies plainly in truth

by ddullahan



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Fanart, One Shot, Romance, Worldbuilding, because i'm insane and i love details, talking is good for you kids!, this entire fic is just dragging them to the desert to talk out their feelings i'm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25093465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddullahan/pseuds/ddullahan
Summary: this is based off of a story idea @osiria-petals had for her art on tumblr! link in the chapter notes :>Vacuo didn't hold the answers Ruby was looking for. Though maybe she needed the questions first. Her scroll broke in the first week, and she'd spent the past two months alone in the desert with no contact to her team. She picked up a routine guardian post in a small town experiencing a Dust Rush, thinking nothing of it.The last thing she expected was for Weiss to show up on behalf of the SDC.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 23
Kudos: 162





	redemption lies plainly in truth

**Author's Note:**

> [Vacuo AU art](https://osiria-arts.tumblr.com/post/622305302406103040/more-delicious-coloring-by-bonpop-toss-a)
> 
> This is the prompt art! Big thanks to them for giving me permission to write something - they have a few more pieces of fanart related to this au so please go check them out! I might make a part two based off of Weiss staring Ruby down in the sand, shit gets me wheezing every time lmao
> 
> Anyway this is in no way related to AS or my other one-shot series, I just...spent four days writing this monster because I loved the concept lol
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! Love y'all, stay safe, wear a mask! Don't forget to love each other!

* * *

Sand, as it turns out, came in a lot more variations than Ruby had ever expected. It came in fine soft granules, like the familiar beach that bordered her hometown island of Patch. It came in hot, sleet-like waves that tore at the skin of her cheeks as she marched through the heart of Vacuo’s unrelenting desert. It even kicked with the consistency of snow, if enough blood leaked into it. 

Now it gave way beneath the sand glider like parting water on a glass lake. The captain of the glider, an older goat faunus with sand crusted in his beard, steered them into the open desert as if there was a clear path to follow, instead of miles of repetitive dunes. Ruby dearly hoped he’d read the destination correctly, because all she could see were sand dunes, and getting lost would really, really suck. 

The wood beneath her shoes was worn smooth and soft from years of weathering sandstorms. The pads of her bitten fingers kept passing over the same spot on the bench by her thigh just to have something to do, her leg bouncing in place and jingling the ammo patches hanging off her belts. The long bench was empty except a roughed up man with scraggly blonde hair, and a thick scar bisecting the stubble of his chin, his body slumped against the opposite corner. Ruby had fretted over the possibility of riding with a dead body for the first twenty minutes - until he let out a monstrous, almost offensive snore. He reeked of booze when they changed directions and Ruby had spent the first hour of her sweltering ride debating if asking to sit downwind was too rude.

_Weiss would have asked already_. She thought with a pang in her chest.

The glider jolted as they crested another sand dune, lurching into the next dip with nothing but the sound of shifting sand to accompany them. Ruby winced as the hull of the glider creaked ominously, but held firm. She took out her scroll to distract herself - only to stop and stare at the single piece of jagged glass.

She huffed softly, leg bouncing harder as she fiddled with the broken half of her device. It’d snapped on her first mission out from Vacuo, and she hadn’t had the energy to replace it since. She forgot it was missing most of the time. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d called her team to check in, but it had to be at least a month or two. 

Honestly, time had gotten a little squirrely after they locked Salem in one of the maiden’s dimensional vaults. Ruby wasn’t sure if it’d been six or nine months since, but she _did_ know that she was starting to get used to the nightmares. 

Fighting grimm was about the only thing that took her mind off of everything. The faces of the people who died before Salem was locked away - they still followed her around. The mercurial waters shimmering off the dark banks of the desert sometimes had hands reaching from them, and Ruby had gotten quite skilled at looking away before the drowning faces appeared. She knew they weren't real, but it was still freaky to look at.

“‘Ey, huntress.”

Ruby jumped, her aura flickering to life around her as an instinct, but not fast enough to catch her finger as it slipped against the jagged piece of her scroll. Hissing softly, she stuck her finger in her mouth. She turned to the captain as the wound sealed shut, clearing her throat of grit and dry air. “Y-yes sir?”

“We’re almost to the Devil’s Cauldron. I’m gonna need your eyes.” He tilted his head, bleating a crude laugh. “Well, eye.”

Ruby smiled uncomfortably, resisting the urge to fix the rose-embossed eyepatch placed over her right eye. She instead pocketed the remnants of her scroll and eagerly took to her feet, unhooking her weathered scythe from the small of her back. She gave a goofy salute as it unfurled fully. “You got it Captain Roan!”

“Just Roan is fine, girl.” He grunted.

The glider arced over another dune so fast Ruby’s feet left the deck for a hot second, causing her to flail with a yelp. Crescent Rose’s staff jammed into the wood as she caught her footing, her tattered red cloak flapping out behind her. She reoriented herself and felt a surprising moment of relief from the hot sun, a large shadow passing overhead. Glancing up, Ruby gaped as a jagged piece of white rock arced over their heads, passing underneath several others as casted shadows flickered rapidly over their glowing blue sails.

“What is this place?” Ruby asked in awe. They quickly left the rib-like structure behind, the growing distance and dark red sands giving an image of skeletal fingers holding a palm of blood.

“Devil’s Cauldron.” Roan grunted, twisting the wheel to starboard as they drifted away from another strange white rock protruding from the red sands. “Locals say these’re the bones of giant grimm that roamed the desert a thousand years ago. All I’ll say is they’ve been sippin’ that cactus juice too much.”

“Giant grimm.” Ruby muttered, zeroing in on a distant white lump steadily becoming buried by the winds. “Why wouldn’t they be skeletons?”

Roan gave her a nasty side-eye. “Ain’t you a huntress? You should know grimm don’t leave skeletons.”

“Not all of them do.” Ruby said firmly. “But ancient ones leave bones behind.”

“An’ how do you know that?”

“I - my team and I destroyed one once, in Atlas.”

“ _You_ fought an ancient? Ain’t you a bit small?”

A bit of movement caught her eye, a shift of off-white moving closer and closer to their small ship. Ruby flicked off the safety. 

Instead of answering, she took a running leap off the edge of the glider - just as a giant lamprey-like maw erupted from the sand with a splintering screech. The worm was probably five times as long as their little glider, the mouth twisting on its own with bony spires jutting from its slimy throat. 

Ruby activated her semblance and twisted her hips, Crescent Rose shifting into its spear form as she rocketed into a corkscrew streak of red. The edge of her blade scraped against its hide, tearing a long bloody line in her path. Her shoes kicked up a wave of sand on the landing, the worm writhing and wailing as its skin sloughed off in great heaves. Ruby felt that familiar tug of her semblance in her chest as she zipped back to the glider before it got too far. Her scythe returned to its normal hooked state as she dropped onto the deck in a shower of crimson rose petals. 

She straightened up and gave a bright grin, the scythe shifting again to its sniper form and her thumb expertly flicking the safety back on. “Do you have any water on you by chance?”

Roan stared at her with a kind of incredulous awe on his long face, numbly reaching for the skin hanging by his hip and passing it over. 

“Thanks!” Ruby chirped, tilting her head back and taking a long draw from the skin. 

“You hunters are a deceptive bunch. How old are you, girl?” Roan muttered, turning back to face the desert. 

“Twenty. Oh - well, actually I think I missed my birthday so I’m twenty-one, technically.”

“Coulda fooled me.” He snorted as the glider slid under another eroded white structure. 

Ruby laughed, trotting over to the bow and plopping down, using her scope to scan ahead. “That’s okay, I get that a lot.

The journey through Devil’s Cauldron wasn’t too difficult. They spent the rest of the ride in relative silence. Ruby only had to snipe a few small grimm out of the sky before the strange bone-white structures were fading into the distance, and a cluster of tiny white buildings appeared on the horizon. Ruby perked up from where her chin had been resting on the lip of the bow. 

“There it is.” Roan said gruffly. “Crooked Maw. You sure this is where yer wantin’ to be?”

“Yeah.” Ruby reached into a separate pouch, pulling out the contract she’d accepted back at the city of Vacuo. She started reading it over again. “They needed some help with the grimm.”

“What else is fucking new.” Roan grumbled, steering them straight on. 

He fiddled with a few controls by his foot, the glider jolting a bit as they abruptly started to slow. A thunk sounded behind them, the man reeking of booze falling clean off the bench with a yelp. Ruby nearly got up to help him but he staggered to his feet in no time, wiping a hand down his face and smearing grime over his cheek. Ruby made a face and decided to stay seated.

As the glider came closer to the town, Ruby could see how the terrain had begun to change. The sand grew more coarse and gravelly, eventually abandoning the fine granules for full dark red rocks and boulders, pockets of saturated spiky plants and cacti springing forth from the ground in no particular pattern. The town itself was made of stark white buildings erected in semi-circle, all of them in strange heights and sizes, much like the crooked teeth of a child. 

A few of the buildings had holes worn into their sides like cavities, wooden boards hastily patched over the holes. A few people flitted between the buildings, their shapes covered head to toe in red or cream colored garb. A flat path of white stones wound through the squat alabaster structures and deep red sands, leading all the way to a drop off point where the rocky land gave way to the sky. Smoke rose in large, coiling columns, the tips of smokestacks appearing off the edge of the cliff.

A stone as cold as ice sunk deep into the pit of Ruby’s stomach as she noticed a small pale building separate from the rest and edging closer to the cliff, a gaudy pale blue snowflake painted into the side.

“Wh-what’s the SDC doing here?” Ruby asked incredulously, pulling up her scope and peering through it. 

“Dust, what else.” Roan grunted, the glider skidding to a stop a good mile from the town. “Town’s been boomin’ cause of the caves. Now off ya go then. Sand’s too grainy further in, it’ll scrape the hull.”

Without another word, the other passenger stumbled off the edge of the glider, falling unceremoniously into the red sand and roughly starting the trek to town. Ruby hesitated, collapsing her weapon fully and hooking it to the small of her back. 

“Thank you for the ride.” She said with a strained smile, to which Roan only scoffed. As she moved to jump the side though, Roan spoke up.

“You be careful in that town, girl. Blood thirsty folks in these parts. Not all of them are there for dust.”

Ruby sat herself on the edge of the stern, smiling brightly back at him. “Thank you sir, but I'll be okay. Be safe on your way to Vacuo!"

With that, Ruby gave a wave and dropped into the sand. The points of her black shoes still peaked over the layer of sand as she sunk in half an inch, arms flailing as she recovered her balance. Mercifully she didn't have far to walk before the shifting sands turned to desert rock and hard, deep red earth. The man ahead of her had already become a speck in the distance, quickly disappearing amongst the molars of the town. 

The wind buffeted Ruby’s travel clothes as it picked up into a howl, practically pushing her towards the town with its strength. She covered her face with her well-loved scarlet cloak, glancing back at the way she’d come. Her eye widened.

The entire horizon of dunes had lost its fine curved edge, instead growing puffy and dark with clouds building. The wind started tugging harder at her clothes, as if begging her to move faster. She immediately tried to look for Roan’s ship, worried for the old goat despite herself. It was already a pale blue mark in the distance, a small speck of light amongst waves of red, shadowed in the behemoth cloud growing larger by the second. 

Worry tied itself in a knot and dropped into her stomach to join the other cold stones. She had no choice but to turn and sprint for the town, gritting her teeth and feeling sand crunch in between. An unearthly howling had taken up in her ears, some of it familiar, some of it just the wind trying to pour more sand into places sand should never go. 

She booked it to the winding cobbled path of white stone, just as the cloud behind her swallowed the sun. Breath hot against her face, she sprinted to the nearest building, a sign pinned against its post by force alone reading _The Grinning Cactus_ . Normally the unsettling motif of a cactus with no eyes and just teeth would have made Ruby laugh, but she _really_ didn’t want to swallow more sand. She yanked the door open and rushed inside just as a wall of red slammed it shut for her. A few boards pinned to the top corner of the roof were left to rattle and leak small rivulets of sand, but it was eerily quiet otherwise. Ruby wasn’t used to structures in Vacuo that didn’t creak. It set her on edge. 

The room before her was laid out like a restaurant, several tables clustered in each corner, red powdery streaks lining the spaces between ornately woven rugs. Each rug held a pattern that clashed and overlapped with another. Behind a long counter stood a lithe bull faunus with several gold hoops drilled into the ridged bone sitting crown-like along his heavy brow, ebony hands busy cleaning glasses. The entire wall behind him was displayed with different types of alcohol in odd shaped bottles, the liquid colors inside changing per bottle. The ten or so characters seated around the main floor were all dressed in the same red and white garb as Ruby, masking their individual attire underneath. Though even at a quick glance, Ruby knew she had the least amount of clothing here. Which was odd to her, considering she was actually wearing pants for once. She spotted a few heads twisting away as she scanned the room, an unpleasant shiver picking its way down her spine.

She shook out her clothes and cloak, making her way over the bar area. As she slid into a rickety stool at the very end of the counter, the bull faunus casually made his way over. 

“What can I get you, sweetie?” He asked, his high tenor voice surprising her. 

She didn’t answer right away, distracted by the gorgeous curl of white makeup around his obsidian black eyes. He raised a penciled eyebrow and she startled. “Uh, s-sorry, do you have water?” Ruby asked, feeling for her pouch of lien. 

His hoops chimed together as he tilted his head to the side curiously. “Sure thing. Anything else you need?”

She perked up. “Oh! Do you know where I can get a room to stay in town?” 

“Right here. We have an upstairs for travelers like you.” 

“Travelers like me?”

He gave a smile that showed his gums, sunlines appearing around his eyes as his head inclined to her weapon. “Hunters and huntresses are always welcome here darling. Free of charge.”

Ruby flushed to the tips of her ears, her chin dipping into the scarf of her cloak bashfully. “O-oh no, I don’t want to stay for free -”

He gave a booming laugh, waving his hand at her. “Too late sweetie, you’re already here. You’ll take room four, I’ll get you your key.” He turned on his heel as Ruby sputtered, his clopping footsteps muffled by the stained rugs beneath. 

Ruby fidgeted in her seat, sighing so heavily her hood slipped from her head and bunched around her neck. She drummed her fingers on the countertop. There were some interesting colors held in clear jars right at her eye level, holding a rainbow of liquid with various spices and fruits floating in them. Too restless to examine them, she ended up reaching for her contract again, quickly skimming over the lines she’d already read and partially memorized. The bull faunus returned before she could get too caught up in it, sliding her a glass of water and an old wiry key made of the same strange alabaster stone she kept seeing everywhere.

“Let me know if you need anything else hun.” He said kindly, his attention shifting to a different customer grunting for his attention.

“Wait,” Ruby set her paper aside, leaning over the counter. “What’s your name?”

He turned to her, giving her that same warm smile from before. “Bluud Bone. Most folks call me Blue, Bone, Mama Bone, or just Mama. Whatever you’re comfortable with is fine dear, so long as it isn’t a slur.”

Ruby sunk back into her seat, her smile shaky and her voice as grateful and heartfelt as she could convey. “Thank you so much. If - if you need anything please let me know. I’d be happy to help.”

“Will do darling.” Mama Bone gave her a smile and a wink, clopping off to help a man waving his tankard.

The journey from Vacuo City had taken a lot longer than she’d anticipated. Her water canteen had been empty for hours. Ruby smiled, reaching out to cup the water in her hands. It was surprisingly cool to the touch, and she downed two mouthfuls in rapid succession. She was pretty sure she swallowed more sand than water, but it left her mouth feeling cleaner than before, so that was a bonus. 

Noise had filtered back into her peripherals, the sandstorm still silently roaring outside the sturdy white walls. She wondered briefly if Mama Bone would fill her canteen for her, and where his water supply was. Did they use groundwater or was there an oasis nearby?

Something creaked in the area of her blindspot and Ruby jumped so hard she spilled her water over the counter, soaking her grimm contract completely. As she whipped around, there was a brief moment where her mind couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing. 

Pristine white hair weighed in a thick braid. Red-rimmed blue eyes. A face she knew better than the back of her hand twisted into a fury that made her nearly unrecognizable. Ruby had never seen that look directed at her before. Her heart quickly caught up with her mind and firmly lodged itself in her throat, strangling her in a wave of cold sweats. 

Ruby knew she was done for as soon as Weiss opened her mouth.

“What. The. Fuck. Ruby.” She hissed, the vitriol lathering each word just to dig the knife deeper into her empty chest. 

To make matters worse, a single tear slipped free from Weiss’ eye.

It felt like a black hole had opened up in Ruby’s stomach. She wished it would swallow her whole.

“I-I can explain,” She said hastily, her hands trembling like leaves in a hurricane as she shoved her hand into the pocket with her broken scroll. “I promise I can explain Weiss -”

Weiss’ fist curled and unfurled at her sides, raising halfway and dropping as if she couldn’t decide if she wanted to strangle her, or slap her. Ruby couldn’t get a good hold on the half of her scroll, her breathing echoing loudly in her ears - but Weiss’ body was still as a statue, even if her hands weren’t. She waited as Ruby finally hooked her finger under the glass of her scroll, pulling it free and setting it on the counter between them like it was a volatile substance. 

She held her breath as Weiss’ piercing blue eyes drifted from Ruby to the scroll. She stared for a long moment. All Ruby could hear was her own pulse hammering against the insides of her ears. 

“You broke your scroll.” Weiss said flatly.

“...Yeah. Two -” She winced. “Two months ago.”

“And you couldn’t borrow a phone?”

“I don’t know your numbers by heart.” 

“The data was unrecoverable?”

“Um.” Ruby choked on her words. She hadn’t tried to recover the data. She’d thought it was a lost cause.

Weiss inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose in a way that had Ruby bristling under it. The motion carried like the disappointment of a parent and Ruby hated it so immediately that it startled her. 

“Look Weiss, I’m fine.” Ruby said, finding the iron in her voice again.

“Don’t.” The heiress snapped, holding up a hand and stemming Ruby’s protest. “Broken scroll or not, you have no excuse for two months of _radio silence_. Yang has been worried sick Ruby, I can’t believe you didn’t even try to send a fucking letter! Post still works, and you definitely know how to read and write!” She sneered. “Or maybe you broke that ability, too.”

“I’m not - no! I didn’t think about it, okay?!” Ruby knew her voice was getting louder and they were probably causing a scene, but the nerves twisting in her gut had gone sour on her tongue and she couldn’t stop the ugly words from escaping. “I was busy! Y’know, killing grimm, making the world a better place - like we were _trained_ to do!”

“It hasn’t even been a year since everything happened!” Weiss said sharply, her posture folding into a defensive fury. “We all needed a break, Ruby!”

“Well I didn’t!” At some point she’d stood up, and it hit her how much shorter Weiss was to her. She actually had to tilt her chin down to look at her. “I’m doing just fine!”

“Oh I can _see_ that!”

Ruby sputtered, “Wh-what’s _that_ supposed to mean!?”

She paused, the anger fading for a second. She glanced down at her clothes. They were a little tattered and weatherworn, but they were still pretty new compared to the state of some of her other outfits. She looked back at Weiss in utter confusion, eyebrows furrowing together. “Wait no really, what did you mean? I just got these clothes.”

Weiss looked like she wanted to throttle Ruby like a rag doll, an insane glint popping into her eye for a heartbeat. Then as if someone had opened a valve and drained everything from her body, the hostility faded from her all at once. She sunk into the stool beside Ruby, burying her face in her hands. 

The fight seeped from Ruby’s muscles and left her aching. She sat down slowly, watching the rise and fall of Weiss’ back, her double breasted peacoat straining slightly against the muscles underneath. Ruby’s hands were shaking again, but she braved through it. Her palm brushing against Weiss’ back made the heiress jump a mile and Ruby snatched her hand back. 

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said weakly. 

Weiss just shook her head with a huff of derivative laughter, one of her gloved palms digging deep into her scarred eye. Ruby’s own throbbed with a memory that she tried to ignore. A flash of pale skin and loose silk, feather light pressure over her blind eye. Her heart skipped a beat and she pulled further into herself. 

“I’m really sorry.” She whispered.

Weiss didn’t move a muscle. Ruby was well on her way to stewing in her own thoughts and regrets, when her attention grew divided as the muffled _thwops_ of Mama Bone’s hooves made their way over to them. 

“Everything alright girls?” He asked, whisking a rag from under the counter and blotting up the water. 

“We’re fine Mama, thank you.” Weiss finally rasped, lifting her head. She glanced at the ruined contract now sticking itself to the table with moisture, and then to Ruby.

She slid off her seat, turning to the rest of the inn and lording over the many faces that quickly turned back to mind their own business. Weiss tsked under her breath, her back straightening into its perfect posture once more.

“Come on, I’ll help you dry out your contract.” Weiss said, taking Ruby’s room key and motioning towards the spiral staircase hidden by the shelves of the bar. 

Ruby couldn’t find it within herself to argue, tiredly peeling her assignment off the counter. “I’m sorry for the mess, Mama Bone.” 

“Don’t you worry about it darling.” He tilted his head, the compassion in his eyes making Ruby’s lower lip tremble a little. “You keep your voices down up there, yes?”

“We’ll - yes. I apologise for my behavior.” Weiss said hastily, at least having the courtesy of looking berated.

“Don’t let it happen again dear.” He lowered his voice for only them to hear, dark eyes flicking to the room behind them. “There are evil ears in this place, Miss Schnee. Best you keep to yourself as much as you can.”

Weiss’ jaw hardened and she gave a brusk nod. She hooked her fingers into Ruby’s sleeve, tugging her away from the bull faunus and over to the stairs. Ruby followed obediently, glancing back into the room. She caught the whites of quite a few eyes darting away from their path, chairs shifting and whispers filtering into the quiet. Weiss didn’t pause, letting go of her sleeve to climb the staircase. 

Ruby tried to look up and see where the tightly winding staircase ended, but as if sensing her gaze, Weiss shoved a hand into her face with a hissed, “What are you _doing_ you dolt? I’m wearing a _skirt!”_

Instantly Ruby became light-headed with embarrassment, her face flooded with heat. She stammered wordlessly for a moment and went to take a step - but her foot missed. She was nearly sent careening back down the half helix, but a pale hand clutched at the front of her cloak and tugged her back. 

She fixated on exasperated starlight blue eyes, Weiss’ pink lips pulled into a frown as she crouched on her step to remain at eye level. “Are you okay?”

Feeling a little like she was swimming underwater, Ruby gave a hitched laugh. “Y-yeah I just - y’know, didn’t see where I was going. I’m gonna uh… keep one eye down?”

Weiss’ gaze flicked from Ruby’s single pale gray to the eyepatch. Ruby felt the eyeroll more than she saw it, her cloak released with a groan. “Just watch your step, please. I don’t want to scrape you off of Mama’s floors.”

Ruby waited till Weiss’ calves were at her eye level before following her slowly, staunchly refusing to look higher. Though Weiss really did have nice calves. Must be all the heels she fought in. She deserved killer calves for fighting in those death traps, as far as Ruby was concerned.

“So what’re you doing here, Weiss?” Ruby asked, resolutely ignoring how dry her mouth had gotten again, blaming it on the desert.

“I’ve been helping my mother take control of the SDC.” Weiss said simply. “She’s a bit out of practice so Whitley and I have made an... uneasy truce, to help her take over. At least until Whitley is old enough to take the reins. I’m just here to check the dust mines and working conditions.” 

Ruby gaped as Weiss climbed to the top of the stairs. She jogged up after her and nearly tripped as the right side of Crescent Rose clanged against the handrails, recovering spectacularly enough to exclaim, “Weiss that’s amazing! I can’t believe your mom’s recovery, is she, I mean -”

“She’s been sober for nine months now.” Weiss said softly, a small, proud smile pushing its way onto her face. “It’s the longest she’s ever gone without a drink in… I can’t even remember.”

Ruby zipped to her side before she could even blink, a few rose petals littering the ground behind her as she took Weiss’ hands eagerly, a bright smile on her face. “I’m so happy for you!”

Weiss laughed softly, her head tilted down in an almost shy manner. “Thank you Ruby. I’m… I just hope it sticks this time. I think it helps that my father can’t scare her anymore.”

“With you and your siblings supporting her? Psh.” Ruby grinned. “She’ll be fine.”

Weiss glanced up, a bit of pink touching her cheeks. Her eyes were _so_ blue. Ruby breathed out a silent sigh, and Weiss gently extracted her hands. She cleared her throat, frowning - though it came off as more of a pout than anything. 

“I’m still quite angry at you, you know.” She said firmly, brushing past Ruby to pull out her own key. 

Ruby sighed again, audibly and more forlorn this time. “Yeah, I get that. You’re right to be angry.”

Weiss paused at the door, her chin tilting down before she unlocked the odd keyhole shaped door, the ceilings rather low and curved from the second floor. The door creaked on its hinges, the silence of the hallway immediately contrasting the whipping red winds outside Weiss’ port-hole window. 

It was a cute little room, outfitted with a small bookshelf, bed, and small desk pushed beneath the window. A bathroom lay just to the right of them, spartan but functional. Weiss’ rapier, Myrtenaster, lay against the wall between the head of the bed and the desk. A few succulents dotted the bookshelf, only a few dusty tomes stacked together per shelf. At the foot of the bed lay Weiss’ white suitcase, propped open, though the wheels were streaked with red. She’d already lost a white dress to the sands, it seemed. 

“Come on, we can use my hairdryer to fix your contract paper. I know you don’t carry one with you.”

“Us heathens prefer towels.” Ruby replied instinctually, stepping inside and slipping her shoes off by the door as Weiss had already done. 

“Ah yes, how could ever forget the bane of my existence on our travels.” Weiss hummed, swiping her gloves off and unbuttoning her peacoat, shedding it onto the bed’s thin blankets.

“Hey towels are gr-” Ruby coughed on air. “Great.” She finished in a wheeze, pointedly avoiding the corner where she stood. Weiss was wearing a familiar loose, sleeveless blue tunic tucked into her white skirt and Ruby’s breath had hitched on the word at the sight. She quickly tugged her cloak over her head in a panic - subsequently shedding red particles everywhere. 

“I hope you’re prepared to sweep before you leave.” Weiss said pointedly, casting a glare to the halo of iron around Ruby’s bare feet. 

Ruby giggled nervously and picked up the wet contract from beside her foot, shaking it and wincing as it splattered muddy water everywhere. Weiss just sighed heavily and gestured to the bathroom. 

“In there, if you please.”

“Yoouu got it, partner.” Ruby unhooked Crescent Rose, setting the scythe down beside her shoes and quickly bounding to the bathroom. Weiss made a small, strangled noise from behind her and Ruby had to turn her entire body to look, tilting her head curiously. 

“You okay?” She asked. 

She straightened up, her white eyebrows pulled together. “Y-yes, I’m fine. It’s just -” Weiss’ expression had fallen into what Yang fondly referred to as the ‘oh shit’ look she often got when caught in the middle of something. “I suppose. I’m not used to seeing you in pants.”

Ruby blinked, looking down. “Oh. Yeah I guess this would be the first time, huh? Weird.”

“Why did you change your outfit?” Weiss found herself asking, a mildly bothered edge to her voice.

Ruby set the contract on the edge of the sink, brushing her fingertips over the tops of her thighs. “I wore a skirt for my first mission from Vacuo, but I didn’t know that sand gets stuck like... _everywhere_. I ended up getting a rash on the insides of my thighs that my aura didn’t really heal right away. It’s not fun to have in the middle of combat. And it’s…” She flushed sheepishly. “It’s kind of why my scroll was broken. I stepped wrong and the centipede I was fighting snagged one of my pouches. Metal versus mandibles, mandibles won. Lesson learned.”

The heiress hummed in thought, joining Ruby’s side and picking at the edge of the wet paper. “Unfortunate. I always liked that we had that in common with us.”

“Combat skirts?” Ruby smiled, playfully bumping their hips together. “Well this is just temporary. I’ll be back in skirts before you know it.”

“ _Is_ it temporary?” 

Ruby’s smile fell. “What?”

“You’ve spent two months in this desert, Ruby.” Weiss said softly, dropping to her heels and gathering her hairdryer from under the sink. 

The clacking rose between them like a barrier, and Ruby suddenly wasn’t comfortable with this conversation. Weiss continued anyway. “That’s more than enough time to decide if you’re planning to disappear or not.” 

She rose slowly, and though her shoes were off and Ruby was now a full four inches taller - she still made her feel small. Weiss’ expression had pulled to one side with sadness, a hint of teeth sinking into her lower lip. 

“Were you ever planning to contact us again?” She asked in a broken whisper, her pretty blue eyes shining with tears. 

“I- of course I was!” Ruby protested.

The words felt so much like a lie that Ruby had a sudden onslaught of nausea. She’d never lied to Weiss before. Ruby gripped the edge of the sink, abruptly aware of how hard and loud she was breathing. Her head felt like it was spinning, the hole in her chest yawning so wide and dark she was sure it had swallowed her.

“Ruby,” Weiss’ hand was warm on her cold fingers, and equally as warm on her cheek. Her right eye throbbed beneath her pale digits, a headache pounding in the back of her head. Ruby’s lungs squeezed painfully in her chest, but she couldn’t look away from Weiss’ pale blue eyes. “Breathe with me. Can you feel me?”

Her palm was resting on Weiss’ sternum, pressed there with ghostly fingers folded over sun-tanned skin. She could feel Weiss breathing slow for her. Ruby struggled to match the rise and fall, her free hand gripping Weiss’ bicep desperately. 

“Come on, you know this.” Weiss said gently, guiding her through each inhale and exhale.

Eventually the nausea abated, and Ruby could hear things beyond her own wheezing. Somehow they'd ended up on the minimal space of the floor, Ruby's right hip pressed against the shower edge.

“Are you alright?” 

“I- I think so.” Ruby whispered. “What - what happened?”

Weiss used the hand on her cheek to tilt Ruby’s head up, the concern on her face devastating. “You panicked. I've -" Her hand slowly slid off Ruby's face. "I've never seen that happen to you before. Yang, sure. Even Blake. But…"

Ruby looked away, wrapping her arms around her stomach. 

"Ruby..." Weiss' hands hesitated from her peripheral. She seemed to steele herself against whatever thoughts made her hesitate, reaching out and gently turning her face back. Weiss' thumb brushed against the very bottom of the raw pink scar over her right eye, just barely outside the border of her eyepatch.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked quietly.

Ruby shook her head slowly, swallowing hard as tears built up and slid down her left cheek. She couldn't feel if there were tears on the other side of her face. Weiss' hand took up most, if not all the sensation of her working facial nerves. Her thumb passed over the dead nerves again, only a dull pressure around it alerting Ruby to the motion.

"You _can_ talk about it, you know." Weiss said. Ruby couldn't look away, her partner's hands preventing her escape. "You're allowed to feel things."

"I have to be the leader." Ruby whispered, her voice wavering. "I have to keep you guys safe."

"We _are_ safe. Salem is locked up - it was _your_ plan and it _worked_. What more is there to do?"

Frustration welled like a geyser threatening to blow, the muscles in Ruby's jaw flexing against a pale palm. "It was too easy." She hissed, suddenly desperate for Weiss to understand her fear. She fisted handfuls of Weiss' thin clothes, uncaring as it exposed more of her collarbones. "She was trapped too easily - something is going to happen! She's gonna find a way out and it's gonna start all over again - don't you get it Weiss?? She's immortal! She's - it's only a matter of time before the cycle of violence starts again! If we're not ready when she comes back, the world is doomed! _We're_ doomed!"

"But what if you're wrong?"

Ruby stopped short, her grip loosening reflexively. "...What?"

"What if you're wrong? What if she never comes back?"

"Wh - that's - there's no way she'd stay in there."

"And if it happens _after_ our lifetime?"

"I…"

"Are you going to spend the rest of your life in this desert, waiting for something that'll never happen?"

"N-"

"Look." Weiss pulled her head forward, knocking their foreheads together gently. She matched her gaze for gaze, and Ruby could only follow her lead, helpless as the tides pulled to the sea. "We're _here_ , Ruby. You and I, we're alive. Yang and Blake are alive. Our friends made it out in one piece. The war is over. We're _here_."

Tears dripped off her chin, Ruby's body shuddering with a sob. Weiss sniffled softly, her voice growing thick.

"You and I have almost died too many times to count, and I'm done questioning if I deserve the air I breathe. I’m done questioning whether I deserve my own happiness because I survived and someone didn’t."

Ruby whimpered softly, sinking further into the embrace until their noses touched. 

"You don't deserve to live in fear of her for the rest of your life Ruby. That's not your responsibility." 

Ruby felt a piece of herself shift back into place. With her eye closed, she let her partner's voice take the edge out of her fears. Stability came in the form of pale fingers drifting up and gently tugging the eyepatch from her face. She felt Weiss' body shiver with hers. She'd never known how heavy trust could weigh in a quiet room. 

As if searching for a distraction, the memory she'd resisted from before hit her out of nowhere.

Laying in her dad's house in Patch, Weiss pressed into her side on the night the actions taken in war hung from their lips like silent hooks, and sleep evaded them. Her blue eyes were red from crying, but her face was as serious as ever. A burning sensation throbbed in the right side of Ruby’s face, soothed by a gentle pressure and cool ointment. Weiss hummed under her breath, singing wordless songs as she reapplied the bandages without being asked.

It was the first time Ruby had ever thought about Weiss as someone other than her best friend, and it'd scared her to death. 

She left for Vacuo a week later.

As if snapped by a rubber band, Ruby became hyper aware of the present situation. How close they were. How warm she was. Her heart rate picked up in response. Oblivious to her thoughts, Weiss spoke with a passion that hit Ruby hard enough to steal what remained of the breath in her lungs.

"You should live like you want to. No fear, no boundaries. No Salem. Just you and the pursuit of your own happiness. I just - I want you to be happy."

Ruby hummed high in her throat, lungs fluctuating shallowly. Weiss kept going, rambling as her thumb passed under her scar again and again. 

"You're my partner and my best friend - I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't help you be happ- mmh!"

Ruby's eye slid shut, the press of their lips sending hot shocks all the way down to her toes. She was holding Weiss' tank top so tightly the fabric was probably stretched from it, knuckles held over Weiss' stomach made pale from pressure and nerves - gods, her heart felt like it was trying to crawl out of her chest and present itself to the masses. 

But as Ruby held the kiss for a beat, Weiss was still as a statue against her. 

Her stomach dipped like she'd fallen from a plane with no parachute. Ruby pulled back hastily, her tingling mouth dropping open with apologies on her tongue - but Weiss' eyes were glazed over, unregistering. Embarrassment and horror filled Ruby from head to toe. 

She stuttered out some excuse she absolutely wouldn't remember later, scrambling up and out of the bathroom before Weiss could even blink. She snatched up her room key from the desk, not even bothering to put her shoes back on before she was out the door with Crescent Rose and her pointed shoes in hand. Ruby juggled them to one side as she found her room(three doors down from Weiss) and opened it. Panic shot through her like lightning as footsteps thumped a few doors down. She was pretty sure she left rose petals in the hall with her haste to put that barrier between them.

Lo and behold, a few seconds passed and there was a pounding that rattled the hinges, Weiss calling out her name through the thick wood. Ruby pretended not to hear, setting her weapon on the small desk with as little noise as possible.

She waited with baited breath until there came a final thud and heavy sigh. The footsteps moved away, and Ruby let out a quiet whine. She stole a pillow off her bed and buried her face in it, letting out a scream.

"Stupid stupid, I am _so_ stupid!"

The following night was the worst in Ruby's memory. She'd been plagued by nightmares for months since the end of the war, but this was something else entirely. Her dreams were fragmented, sometimes carrying wet heat and white hair made of silk. Other fragments held the red sands of the Devil's Cauldron, blood indistinguishable from their color and disappointed eyes that followed her every move. The eyes chanted her name in whispers, some reverent, some desperate, others screaming. In another, the desert became a landscape of blood and bone. The stars were thousands of burning red eyes in the black night sky. The body of a giant decomposed in the sands, white hair splayed out around the sunken, black veined skin.

Ruby awoke in cold sweats, her hands reaching for something she would never grasp. 

She flopped back into the sheets, chest heaving. Her knuckles cracked as she released the bedding, raking her hands through sandy, sweat slick hair. Her body felt like it was made of lead as she rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom, feet dragging along the rugs. 

Her room was a mirror version of Weiss' though her window actually had a view of the town outside. The sandstorm had died in the middle of the night, leaving a fine film of dark red sand in the crevices of the white buildings. The barest hint of light was beginning to show, deep blues dripping into paler shades like blending paints. 

Beyond the buildings stood a veritable army of cacti, standing sentry-like and scattered in a strange pattern. Ruby thought they looked like a crowd of people that had stopped moments before jumping off the edge, arms raised for the leap. The smokestacks were clearer from here, dawn lighting their shadows and painting them gray and gleaming. The Schnee snowflake was carved into the curved metal, three pipes in. Ruby couldn’t see the building entrance, but watched as a few dark shapes wove their way to the cliff's edge and disappeared below. Early morning workers for the factory.

Farther along the horizon, black shapes were circling. With a quick assessment of distance, Ruby knew they were too big to be regular vultures, but too far to really pose a threat at the moment. 

But the sight of them triggered a thought, and her hand went to the pouches at her hips. She rifled through them, motions becoming more and more frantic. She stilled. 

Her contract was still in Weiss’ room. Her cloak and eyepatch, too. She bit the nail of her thumb, heat brushing under her skin as embarrassment and fear clashed within her. She stood staring out of the port-hole window for a good five minutes, oscillating back and forth on what to do. Asking Weiss for her things felt a little like breaking up with her and they weren’t even dating. Not that - well. 

Her face grew warm, her fingertips pressing and tracing the edge of her lower lip. She swore they were still buzzing from the kiss. Ruby hadn’t really given it much thought as to what would come after. It just seemed like the natural thing to do at the time. Weiss was brilliant when she was passionate, and she’d been passionate about _Ruby’s_ happiness. It made her feel like her heart was coated in warm honey and left to sit in the sun - but Ruby was too scared to find out if her partner felt the same or not. On top of wondering if Weiss would even want to be with someone like her. 

After all, Ruby could barely stand being around herself most days. Why would Weiss ever feel differently?

She shook her head sharply to clear it, the warmth sapped from her body. She snatched her hand away from her mouth and quickly zipped into the bathroom to get ready. If she hurried, she might just get out of the hall without bumping into Weiss. 

She’d talk to her. Just...not yet.

Ruby felt rather naked without her cloak as she padded silently into the hall, thankful for the rugs muffling her footsteps. She hesitated near Weiss’ room, staring at the door like it would lunge out and eat her if she strayed too close. Her heart slowed in anticipation.

Then her palm made contact with the railing of the stairs and she hurried down the steps as if Salem herself was chasing her. The restaurant below was empty except for a single patron at the end of the bar and Bluud Bone quietly doing dishes.

His head popped up when she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, gaze curiously following the path of a rose petal as it fluttered to the floor. 

"So you're the one leaving rose petals everywhere." He hummed on a laugh, startling her. "I was wondering who was trying to seduce my restaurant."

Ruby flushed pink. "S-sorry Mama, I can clean them up." She bent to pick up the petals, but paused at a scoff.

"Leave them dear. They're a welcome change from all this gods-damned sand."

Ruby popped back up to her feet, scratching the back of her head. "If you're sure."

He smiled, not a stressline in sight. "Positive. Are you hungry hun? What can I get you?"

"Oh no, I'm fine, thank you." Ruby replied automatically, the idea of food making her stomach hurt.

"You can't possibly go grimm hunting on an empty stomach."

"I'll be fine -"

"Hush your mouth and sit down child. I'll whip up a lunch, you wait right there."

The bull faunus had already slipped away into a back door by the time Ruby managed to find her voice again. She gave a heavy sigh and plopped down at the bar, giving the other patron a wide berth. 

It didn't take long for the smell of hot food to permeate the lower floor, Ruby's mouth watering despite herself. She was reminded vaguely that she didn't eat at all the day before, other than a quick bite of sand-laden baked goods from a Vacuo bakery. The people of the desert wastes called sand their 'secret spice'. Mostly because it was almost impossible to exclude it from things. Sand got in water, food, clothes, anything and everything contained trace amounts of sand. Though it did make her wonder absently if red sand tasted different than the normal beige. 

Mama Bone appeared once more to lay a bundle of still warm treats on the countertop, wrapped neatly in a cheese cloth. Ruby reached for her lien again, but Bluud shook his head firmly. "I don't want a dime from you dear, I already told you."

"There has to be something I can do to repay you!" Ruby protested, her hand curling into a fist on the counter.

"You're already performing a community service darling, what more do you need to prove to yourself that you're worth my kindness?"

Ruby's mouth snapped shut on its own, the words hitting her just as hard as Weiss' impassioned speech did the day before. Mama Bone's eyes softened at the edges, and his hand dwarfed her small fist. 

"I can't imagine the things you've been through, Miss Rose." He said gently. "But I do know that a woman as young as yourself should never have to save the world on her own."

Ruby felt like her lungs were trying to squeeze themselves into oblivion, unable to speak louder than a whisper as her head spun like a top. "How - how'd you know my name?"

"I was in Mantle when you and your team brought down the whale. Your partner was a dead give away."

Ruby's heart stopped in her chest and sunk down to her toes. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I'm alive today because of your bravery." Mama Bone smiled warmly, brushing his thumb over Ruby's shaking fist once before releasing her. "For as many people that died that day, your teams also saved just as many. For that, I am forever grateful."

Bluud's smile softened and he handed her a rag from under the counter. "Come on dear, it's far too early to be shedding tears."

Ruby sniffled loudly, startling the patron at the far end of the bar. She used the rag to hide her face, trying to keep her cries quiet.

The bull faunus waited for her to regain her composure with a kind smile. She hastily sucked in the last of her tears, wiping her face and handing back the wet rag sheepishly. "Sorry."

Mama Bone laughed, taking the corner of the rag and tossing it to a bin. "Stop apologizing, you're fine."

Ruby curled in on herself a little, sheepishly taking the bundle of food Bluud had prepared for her. 

"You and your partner are peas in a pod," He tsked, "You have a canteen?"

Ruby handed it over without hesitation, croaking, "Why'd you say that?" 

"She was just as bad when she got here." He shook his head, hoops jingling merrily. "A little more angry, but still upset. I've never seen a woman command a room like a Schnee on a rampage."

Ruby huffed a bit of a laugh, a fond smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Oh yeah. You don't mess with Weiss when she's angry."

"How long have you known each other?"

Ruby perked up, eagerly latching onto the lighter subject. "We met at school! I blew up her suitcase by accident and," She snorted. "She didn't like me at first. But I always knew she had a heart of gold. She just needed to let loose a bit."

"The Schnees were always a presence in Mantle," Bluud hummed, the hollow ringing of water against metal almost deafening in the early morning. "Born and raised there, you couldn't go a day without staring at that snowflake and wondering what it's like to be at the top. Especially as a faunus."

He screwed the cap on her canteen and passed it back, leaning against the counter with a soft sigh, chin resting in his palm. "Turns out it can be a bit lonely."

Ruby nodded slowly, frowning at her canteen. “Yeah...she’s always been kinda lonely. Until she got back to us, at least. We...we were all alone in the war, but at least we were alone together.” She glanced at the stairs, her mind whirling.

"Go to her, dear." Bluud smiled, shooting her a wink. "I'll watch your stuff."

Ruby stared for a moment, then let out a little laugh. She set the canteen down, sliding off the stool and bouncing a bit on her toes. "Are you psychic or something, Mama Bone?"

"Or something." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

Ruby pointed at him suspiciously, smiling a little to show her jest. She turned and bounded back up the stairs. 

Bluud sighed, out of earshot. "Young love. So messy."

Ruby resolutely pushed past her roiling nerves to lay her knuckles on Weiss' door. Once, twice she rapped them against the wood. Her anticipation hung itself in her chest, but she stood resolute in the face of it. 

She’d run from fear for far too long. Fear of what the war had turned her into. Fear of facing the future. Fear of the question bouncing around her head since those ornate gold doors slammed shut. _If she wasn’t fighting in a war, what was she good for?_

Ruby was tired of running and wondering. She wanted to live. She missed her best friend. She missed her sister and Blake. She missed being happy.

The door cracked open an inch, a single exhausted blue eye peering through. Ruby gave an uneasy smile and the eye widened. The door shut again, only to open completely with the sound of a small chain banging against the wood. Weiss stood in a simple pale blue nightdress, her long white hair loose in waves around her waist. There were dark circles around her eyes, evidence that slept just as well as Ruby. The sight was enough to knock the wind out of Ruby’s sails, fear surging back full force.

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest. Ruby gulped, squeaking a lame, “H..hi.”

“It’s early.” Weiss said brusquely. A tinge of concern touched her cheeks, her arms loosening. “Are you okay?”

“Y..yeah. Mind if I come in?”

The heiress nodded slowly, shifting to the side. The motion made her hair move like a waterfall of liquid white marble and Ruby had to refocus herself, shuffling through. The door swung shut behind her like a life sentence, her hands clenching at her sides. 

Ruby took a deep breath and blurted out, “I miss Beacon.”

Weiss blinked, taken aback by the subject. Ruby ran her hands up through her hair, the sand trapped in it making it spike out wildly. “I miss Beacon. I miss Yang. I miss Blake. I wish the war had never happened, even though wishing does nothing but make me sad. I’m - I’m so, _so_ relieved we’re all alive at the end of this - but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and I’m scared of what I’ll lose if I’m not prepared.” 

“I -”

“I’ve missed _you_ .” Ruby plowed forward, afraid if she didn’t get all the words out that she’d never be able to speak them again. “I thought about you _every_ day, Weiss. Every single day you were on my mind and I didn’t know what that meant because I was - I was too afraid to understand it.” 

Her mind started to run away with her - she _knew_ her sentences were becoming incoherent, but the feelings were rushing out all at once and she couldn’t stop them if she tried. “Cinder ripped into my eye and I-I had to relearn what normal was, but _you_ were always there. _You_ helped me take care of it and - and you’ve been my best friend and the best partner I could ever have dreamed of and I - gods, Weiss, do you _know_ how beautiful you are?”

“You’re - Ruby it’s six am!” Weiss let out a slightly hysterical laugh, pressing a hand to her face, tears sliding free down her cheeks. 

“I have to tell you now or I’ll die with it Weiss!” Ruby exclaimed, nearly running out of breath from her rambling confession. “I’m afraid of what you’ll think of me but I can’t let you go on thinking that I left Patch because of you! I’m scared to death of these feelings but that’s on me and my own fears.”

Weiss had somehow gotten close enough to wind the fingers of her free hand into the laces of Ruby’s corset, which she used to tug her closer. Ruby’s head was light and had to wonder how people in love managed to do day to day things when their partner could steal all the air in a room. 

“You’re such an idiot, why do you think I was so mad at you yesterday?”

“Um, b-because I left??” Ruby stammered, blushing to the tips of her ears.

Weiss shook her head, trying to look stern but she was laughing too much. She cupped the side of Ruby’s face, thumb passing over the healed scar. “No you dumbass, I’m in love with you. I was _worried_.”

“You - you’re - _what?”_

Weiss’ hand gripped the back of her neck. “Gods just _shut up_.” She pulled her down, arching onto her toes to kiss her.

Ruby’s heart nearly burst out of her chest, her hands fluttering by Weiss’ waist uncertainly. She was so shocked she forgot to respond to the kiss - which made Weiss lighten the pressure enough to murmur, “Ruby. Stop thinking.”

Obeying, Ruby gulped and nodded, promptly pressing back into her lips. Weiss hummed happily, high and musical in the back of her throat. The sound shook Ruby to her toes and she curled her arms around her partner’s waist, pulling her a little too hard against her thick corset. The resulting gasp tasted like mint. 

Weiss’ hand slipped up into her spiked black and red hair, curling a fist around a handful of baby hairs and gently tugging. Ruby felt like there was fire racing through her veins, a buzzing taking up wherever Weiss seemed to touch her. She could feel Weiss starting to pull away and impulsively she pulled the heiress’ bottom lip partially into her mouth, biting lightly and letting it scrape away in parting. 

She wondered if all lovers felt like this. Her body crashed with emotions and desire like it had never lived before it heard the way Weiss’ voice could slip into a higher octave. 

Ruby almost expected steam to come from their skin when they parted, staring at each other for a skipped heartbeat or two. She was convinced her heart was either about to do a full stop or leap clean out of her throat, and Weiss didn’t look much better off. Ruby never knew pale cheeks could get so red, Weiss’ chest fluctuating as she tried to catch her breath.

“I - aren’t you supposed to be new at this?” Weiss asked incredulously, her usual rasp cracking in mid-sentence. 

Ruby grinned sheepishly, her palms pressing into Weiss’ lower back. “Beginner’s luck?”

“You’re far too lucky already.” Weiss muttered, leaning up and pressing a slow, warm kiss to her cheek. Ruby’s eye fluttered shut, sinking into the kiss with a humming sigh. 

“Do we need to keep talking?” Ruby asked softly, tilting her head so their noses brushed together. “Or can I kiss you again?”

“Don’t you have to hunt?” Weiss murmured weakly, even as her body tensed in anticipation under Ruby’s palms.

“Later.” She had an impish gleam in her half-grin. “You did point out it was only six am.”

“ _Gods_ you’re so -” 

The door muffled Ruby’s laughter as it leaked into the halls of The Grinning Cactus.  
  


She was only a few minutes late to her post anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I finally learned how to do links maybe??? Anyway toss a coin to the artists and maybe me if you're feeling benevolent! Links are in my tumblr post :> you can find me there @ddullahan


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